Richard Price

Sometimes dubbed "the voice of the Bronx", Price is primarily known for streetwise sagas like his 1976 novel "Blood Brothers" (filmed in 1978), a coming-of-age story set in the world of construction w...
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Title

Created and executive-produced (with Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Ken Sanzel) the CBS series "NYC 22"

Sold his first short story to the literary magazine Antaeus

Raised in the Bronx; had a mild case of cerebral palsy while growing up

Completed his first novel The Wanderers (1974) at age 24

First film as executive producer, "Mad Dog and Glory"; also wrote and appeared in

Wrote the screenplat for "Freedomland," a drama directed by Joe Roth and based on his novel of the same name

First collaboration with Martin Scorsese, wrote and appeared in "The Color of Money"

Penned screenplay adaptation for "Clockers," directed by Spike Lee

Co-wrote the screenplay for the remake of "Ransom"

Wrote for the HBO drama series "The Wire"

Contributed to the script of "Shaft," John Singelton's loose remake of the 1971 classic

First onscreen appearance, in "The Wanderers"

First novel adapted to film, "Bloodbrothers"

Appeared as himself in Ron Howard's comedy-drama "The Paper"

Summary

Sometimes dubbed "the voice of the Bronx", Price is primarily known for streetwise sagas like his 1976 novel "Blood Brothers" (filmed in 1978), a coming-of-age story set in the world of construction workers, and "The Wanderers" (published in 1974, filmed in 1979), a gritty look at the world of Bronx housing-project gangs. After both of these popular novels had been adapted for film, Price embarked on a successful career as an original screenwriter, notably with "The Color of Money" (1986), which earned him an Oscar nod, and the thoughtful crime drama-cum-character study "Sea of Love" (1989), which revitalized Al Pacino's film career.

Name

Role

Comments

Harriet Price

Mother

Annie Morgan Price Hudson

Daughter

born c. 1985

Judy Hudson

Wife

Genevieve Hudson

Daughter

born c. 1987

Milton Price

Father

Education

Name

Columbia University

Stanford University

Cornell University

Bronx High School of Science

Notes

Price received the Edith Mirrilees Grant in Fiction from Stanford University in 1972.

Since 1975, Price has written essays and articles for Esquire, Playboy, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, American Film, and The Village Voice.

He was named as a Yaddo Fellow in 1977, 1978 and 1980.

Price received a Playboy Magazine Nonfiction Award in 1979.

He was named a MacDowell Fellow in 1979.

"I guess I knew from the beginning – and I don't know where I got it from, except I would read novels and then see the films that were based on them – that you take your money and you take your chances. To have the illusion that if you do the screenplay you'll have any control over the finished product is tragic." – Price quoted in The New York Times, Aug. 31, 1979

"The strangest of all my movie house experiences had to be the night I sat in a huge theater and watched myself up on the screen in 'The Wanderers.' I was on for two minutes, playing a lounge lizard in a bowling alley. I talked, I sneered, and I got strangled with my own tie.

Sitting there, I felt absolutely no connection between myself on the screen and myself in the audience; no excitement, embarrassment, anger, or giddiness. I became so unnerved by the numbness of it all that I had to turn my head away from the screen, and in an effort to come back into myself, I put all my energy into watching the crowd watching me." – Price quoted in American Film, December 1982

"[I] sat through three consecutive showings of 'Mean Streets' one afternoon, then went home, rifled through a box of family photos, and started the first chapter of 'Bloodbrothers' that same night." – Price quoted in American Film, December 1982)

"In one way I have a very cartoon sense of manliness. I want to be a tough son of a bitch out of a comic book, which my father is not...But all the men in my books are the opposite of my father. They are all like weight lifters. They all have handlebar mustaches, bulging pecs, and drink toenail wine. I go out of my way to do larger-than-life things – mainly through my writing, you know, creating 'macho-crotcho' guys." – Price quoted in Ms. magazine, September 1985

In "Defusing the Urban 'Powder Keg,'" an interview with Laurie Werner in USA Weekend (Sept. 15-17, 1995) around the release date of "Clockers" (1995), Price responded to a question about what he personally did to help inner-city youth.

"I've helped some, financially and in other ways. There have been offers that weren't accepted. But if kids ever came to me, I'd help in a second. And next year, I'm teaching a creative writing class at P.S. 22 in Jersey City. People have been very honest with me. You like to return the favors when you can."